The Rock Isn't Hollywood's Top Earner Anymore

A Surprise Actor Just Knocked The Rock Out Of The Highest-Paid Actor Spot

He may have a vault full of swan dive-ready gold coins, but due to the fact that he's an animated bird, Scrooge McDuck isn't actually the highest-paid actor in show business. Instead, that illustrious honour goes to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson...until now.

Entertainment Weekly reports that data from 2016 showed Wahlberg besting the Rock in terms of pre-tax earnings. In Forbes' 12-month window, Wahlberg earned $68 million. In comparison, Johnson had two films, including The Fate of the Furious and Baywatch, and took home $65 million. Don't feel too bad for the guy, however, because that figure still puts him at no. 2 and the amount is more than he made the year before. In 2015, the Rock made $64.5 million.

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EW notes that Wahlberg's main 2016 film offering was critically panned — Transformers: The Last Knight — but he still took home a huge paycheck for the fifth chapter of the Autobots saga. Thanks to "fixed compensation," Wahlberg gets a big payout even if nobody actually sees his movies, Forbes notes.

Johnson's co-star, Vin Diesel, earned the no. 3 spot on Forbes' list, though the margin between the two pals is huge (by normal standards, at least). Thanks to his role in Fast 8 and the newest XXX instalment, Diesel earned $54.5 million.

A name on the list that may be surprising to some is Jackie Chan. The actor banked $49 million mostly from Chinese films, earning him a spot at no. 5 on the list. Unsurprisingly, superheroes also managed to earn top spots. Robert Downey Jr., who previously held the highest-paid actor spot in 2015, dropped to sixth place, and Marvel's Chrises — Evans, Pratt, and Hemsworth — all appear on the list, too.

As for Scrooge McDuck, he tops Forbes' list of fictional characters with a total net worth of over $65 billion. It'll take a while for Wahlberg to catch up to the duck, but if he does, we bet a dip in gold coins feels pretty sweet.